(ABOUT A.D. 470.)
[Commemorated on the same day by Greeks and Latins. Authorities:--A
life by a contemporary and a disciple; mention also by Sozomen, who
wrote his history before Auxentius had retired from the world, and
whilst the saint was setting a holy example in the court of
Theodosius the Younger.]
S. Auxentius was the son of Abdas, a Persian Christian, who had fled
to Syria from the persecution of king Sapor. In the reign of
Theodosius the Younger, Auxentius visited Constantinople, to see his
uncle, who had a charge in the imperial guard; but finding that he was
dead, he attached himself to the court, and was placed in the fourth
company of the guards. He was well built, handsome, active, and
strong, and to these bodily perfections was added a lively
intelligence, and rigid rectitude. Sozomen says that he was especially
commendable at this period for his piety towards God, the purity of
his morals, his learning in profane and ecclesiastical sciences, and
his courtesy and gentleness.
By this conduct he preserved himself from the contagion of the world,
and drew upon himself such heavenly benediction, that, before
renouncing a secular life, he received of God the gift of miracles. He
associated with pious persons, but chiefly with a solitary named John,
who lived as a recluse in the Hebdon, a suburb of Constantinople. He
visited this man frequently in company with Marcian and Anthimius,
both at that time laymen like himself, but afterwards priests.
At length the voice of God spake so clear in the soul of the young
officer, that he could not mistake its import, and renouncing his
position in the court, about the year 446, he retired to a mountain in
the neighbourhood of Chalcedon, in Bithynia, where he hoped to live
unknown to men. His dress consisted in a sheep-skin, and he had no
shelter from the rain and snow. When he prayed, he ascended a rock,
and then, raising his hands and eyes to heaven, his heart swelled with
joy at the thought of his disengagement from all creatures. But he had
not spent a month in this retreat before he was discovered by some
shepherd boys, who sought, crying, some strayed sheep. When they first
saw him, they ran away screaming, thinking he must be some mountain
goblin, but he called after them, and asked them the cause of their
sorrow; and when they plucked up courage and told him their grief, he
bade them be of good cheer, their sheep were on the left side of the
mountain. The boys, having recovered their sheep, returned to their
parents, who hastened to visit the strange man. They found him on his
rock in the attitude of prayer, with uplifted hands. After this, many
people resorted to him, and he instructed them in their duty to God,
and healed many that were sick and possessed.
The heresy of Eutyches, which consisted in denying the duality of
natures in Christ, then imperilled the Church. Nestorius had denied
that "God and Man made one Christ." Eutyches denied that in Christ the
nature of man and the nature of God remained distinct. "Was Christ of
two natures after the Incarnation, or of only one?" he was asked at
his trial. Eutyches replied, "Of two natures before the union; but
after it, I acknowledge but one." Eutyches being the chief abbot in
Constantinople, his views had influenced many of the religious there
and throughout Asia Minor. A general council met at Chalcedon, in 451,
to try Eutychianism, into which so many had fallen in their eagerness
to escape Nestorianism. The Emperor Marcian sent messengers to
Auxentius to demand of him a confession of his faith, and his presence
at the council. He now inhabited a little cell, which had been built
for him. The messengers spoke to him through the window; Auxentius
refused to be mixed up with the controversy, and shut his window in
their faces. They beat at his door, and endeavoured to break in, but
in vain. Then he opened to them his window once more, and asked, "My
fathers and my brethren, of what error am I accused?" They replied
that his presence was required at Chalcedon. Auxentius said that he
believed that the Word had truly taken flesh in the womb of the holy
Virgin, ever virgin; and that he adored Him as the only Son of God the
Father, and that He was without beginning as to His Godhead, but that
He assumed flesh in the end of time; and that it was heresy to declare
that the Son of God was man only. This reply showed that Auxentius was
profoundly ignorant of the subject of dispute; it was a theologic
point that had not been raised when he lived in the world, and it had
not invaded and troubled his retreat on Mount Oxia. As the messengers
still insisted on his accompanying them, he opened his door
reluctantly, and came forth, so fearfully emaciated, ragged, and
covered with sores, that their hearts were moved with pity and
veneration. As he stepped over the threshold one of his nails fell
from off his foot, and one of the company reverently stooped to pick
it up. Then the hermit recoiled in shame and indignation, exclaiming,
"What! am not I a man like you? I pray you, spare me this distress."
As he was too feeble to ride, he was mounted on a car, and thus
conveyed to Chalcedon, followed by troops of poor, amongst whom he had
distributed the charities placed at his disposal by rich visitors, and
surrounded by multitudes bearing their sick, so many of whom were
healed by the benediction of the saint, that his guards were
astonished and irritated, believing him, at heart, to be an Eutychian.
Under the same impression, the monks of the monastery of Phileas, with
whom he was placed, treated him with roughness, lodging him in an
obscure cell without window; but placing a candle and a basket of
dates beside him, to prove him; as also a little child, to watch him.
At the end of a week they opened the cell, and found the candle still
burning, and the fruit untouched. The child said that the holy man had
spent the time in prayer and praises, and that angelic forms had
surrounded him, and a dove had brought him food. The saint was next
taken to the monastery of the abbot Hypacius, where he was received
with much cordiality; and thence he was brought before the Emperor at
Constantinople, and required to subscribe to the decrees of the
Council of Chalcedon. "If the council has decided nothing contrary to
that of Nicæa, if it has declared that Jesus Christ our Lord was truly
incarnate, and that the holy Virgin is truly the Mother of God, I will
gladly communicate with it." The prince, satisfied with this answer,
embraced him, and commanded him to be conducted to the great church.
He sent also to the patriarch of Constantinople, to show him the
decrees of the Council of Chalcedon, concerning the errors of
Eutyches. The saint went to the church followed by a crowd. He read
the Acts of the council, and declared that he thoroughly and heartily
agreed with them. It is probable that he was then ordained priest, but
his historian does not state the time of his reception of holy orders.
He then returned to the monastery of Hypacius, and asked to be allowed
to inhabit Mount Sinope, instead of Mount Oxia. This mountain was
nearer to Chalcedon than that on which he had before resided. It was
very high, barren, and deficient in springs. Thither he was conducted
by the monks of the monastery of Hypacius, singing hymns; a little hut
was erected for his accommodation in a cave, with a window, through
which he could receive food, and converse with his visitors. Here he
spent some years, becoming more and more emaciated and covered with
wounds. Those who visited him in the morning, he retained with him
till the hour of Tierce, after which he dismissed them; those coming
after, he kept till Sext, which he repeated with them, and then sent
them away. He composed hymns and spiritual songs, which he taught to
those who came to him, and made them sing them along with him. He
daily preached to the people, and gave them instruction in the faith,
and how to conduct themselves in the most difficult circumstances. His
sermons produced a most striking effect, and many who heard him
renounced the world, and adopted the religious habit.
As the saint was one night saying Matins, he suddenly opened his
window, and exclaimed thrice, "The Lord be praised!" Then he bent his
head and said, "Simeon, the great father, is dead." And it was so, for
the news reached Bithynia afterwards, that Simeon Stylites,[42] the
great anchorite, had died that night.
Many women having renounced the world, and placed themselves under the
direction of Auxentius, a convent was built to receive them not far
from his cavern, at the foot of the mountain, and the nuns visited his
cell once a week, to receive instruction from his lips. At length,
when he knew that he had not many days to live, he came forth from his
hut, and visited the convent, where he prayed with many tears for the
spiritual welfare of his children. Then he returned to his cave
followed by a great multitude. Three days after he was stricken with a
sickness which proved fatal; and he died on the 14th February.